The Sound of Summer in the Rockies — The Broad-Tailed Hummingbird

Ziiiiiiiiing!!!!

It’s a thrilling sound to hear for the first time every summer — the high-pitched, metallic trill of the Broad-tailed hummingbird as he zips around overhead or darts between friends at a backyard barbecue. And yes, the pronoun he is the correct one, for only male Broad-tails zing when they fly, having a modified wing structure where the tips of their outermost wing feathers vibrate…